If you’re an online store owner, then you know the importance of fulfilling orders quickly. Unfortunately, sometimes there are simply too many orders to keep up with, and some items have to be back-ordered. Backordering can be a frustrating experience for customers, who may have to wait weeks or even months for their order to arrive.
So what’s the average backorder time that customers can expect? And how can you make the process as smooth as possible for them? Read on to find out.
The average backorder time to wait for items
To acquire the order, the person must wait an average of 14 days. It depends on how long it takes for the good or thing to restock. A backorder indicates that the customer will receive the item once it is back in stock. The majority of vendors provide an anticipated delivery date for backorders.
Depending on the type of order, the backorder period would differ. While some backorders may arrive in under 10 days, some can take up to 14 days.
Why does average backorder time take this long?
The likelihood of backorders may rise if multiple items are ordered at once. Therefore, store owners should always have a large number of products to prevent their consumers from experiencing backorder problems.
The customer’s location could also have a significant role in the delivery of their backorders. The delivery time would be delayed if the person’s location was too far from the place where the product was being sold. The backorders, however, may arrive earlier than 14 days if the person resides in the same region or state.
If the suppliers are unable to provide the goods by the schedule, it may also delay delivery for backorders.
How to manage backorders effectively
Get in touch with customers
Customers who ordered the back-ordered item should be notified as soon as possible by email or text message. Also, get a salesperson to call the customer if they have not responded to your email or text message after a few days.
Carefully forecast the arrival of products
You’ll also be able to alert potential new customers who might want to buy out-of-stock items. Forecasting inventories, though, can be difficult.
And you don’t want to fail and let your clients down by twice delaying deliveries. It is therefore best to predict the average backorder time once you have all the necessary details.
Diversify suppliers
Consider collaborating with two or three suppliers or distributors who provide comparable goods if a supply issue causes backorders that occur more than twice.
If you have two or more suppliers, you can count on the others to deliver raw materials if one does not. Multisourcing helps reduce the number of backorders. And if backorders do occur, buying from numerous vendors will help you satisfy customers more swiftly and effectively.
Anticipate product demand
You can better control your backorders by predicting product demand. It can be simple to predict times of increased demand.
In other cases, you would have to perform a thorough industry analysis to forecast overall market demand. In either case, anticipating product demand might assist you in maintaining safety or buffer stock.
Offer incentives for backorder purchases
Offer discounts on back-ordered products to motivate people to purchase from you despite longer order wait periods.
Free delivery is an excellent incentive for backorder purchases because it can positively affect customers’ online purchasing decisions.
Similarly, giving away little gifts with back-ordered items might increase consumer involvement. Giving gifts fosters sentiments of trust, which improves customer retention.
Ship back-ordered items separately
Deliver the things that are in stock to a customer as soon as possible if they order a mix of in-stock and out-of-stock items with a backlog. Don’t hold off on shipping the customer’s order until all items are available.
While delivering two packages rather than one will add a few extra dollars to your bill, it can enhance the customer experience.
In Conclusion,
If you are selling a product that is likely to go out of stock, use BackOrder to ensure your customers can still purchase the product from your store which might reduce the average backorder time. BigCommerce’s only backorder application, BackOrder, makes it easy for you to keep your products in stock and avoid missed sales opportunities. The app also helps you rescue revenue by increasing product orders during peak sales season.
